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Message: [QUOTE="Goat, post: 2178100, member: 3826"] I like the premise that it is what it is. I am reading here often looking for good news, like the Fordham kid deciding to come. I'm tired of self proclaimed insiders sharing imaginary back stories. One thing for sure about real insiders, they don't post much on the boneyard and when they do, they never say anything detrimental to the program (which would be a recipe for the loss of insider status). We just had a perfect storm of calamity. We lost 2 of our 3 best players and another player to early season ending injuries. Among the remaining players, several more man/games were lost to injury. 2/3 of the seniors we relied on showed little growth and less consistency and the up and comers didn't come up quickly. While sensationalists calculate that this was all KO's fault, I can easily spin an imaginary back story where it is not so much KO's fault. He may have experienced a sophomore who would not commit to conditioning or playing defense or wasn't willing to commit to learning the skills the coaches chose to drill him on to improve the player in the role the coach favors for him. He may have showed loyalty to a new player recovering from high school injuries who took a scholarship, but then refused to work as instructed and then lost his sense of gratitude in the face of coaching demands. Maybe he gave a player minutes well beyond what he reasonably could have expected, coached him to the conference all rookie team and found him ungrateful and unsatisfied with his coaching, conference, team, future, etc. What if a coach in such a situation got frustrated because his bench was so thin that he could not sit malcontents? If all he could do was verbally express his frustration, that might not be too pretty. What if this shakes the team's family dynamic and that dynamic is further shaken when the 2d in command, even in small ways, undermines the coach by not strictly supporting him across the board? What if some of the family puts itself up for adoption? In the end, this is a college team. College sports are businesses. Players are looking to showcase themselves because they dream of being independent contractors at the next level. Coaches need Ws like politicians need cash for reelection. Wins and long March runs seem to come to a coach in control, with juniors and seniors, whose team is composed of players willing to conform to his vision. To me, this is the true riddle of the success a Kentucky or Duke achieve. How does a coach get a team move forward when only the anointed players go on to fame and fortune? Coaches are not getting Michael Jordans to limit their scoring and distribute the ball today. If you have alphas, you need to figure out how to prevent bench players from being malignant to team chemistry and bringing the team down. I think KO has learned to be a coach in control through this., or maybe he learned it when Daniel Hamilton decided to go pro rather vie for time with Terry Larrier and this was all just needless pain. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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